Mass Effect: Stranded Gates
by antheunis011
Summary: Following the destruction of the Collector Base in the Galactic Core by the decision of Allaince Navy Commander Jane Shepard, the SR-2 Normandy approaches the outbound Galactic Core relay with the intention to go back home and try to make the Alliance see reason with the Reaper treat with the added Intel on board. However, thing don't always happen as planned.
1. Convergence

This Mass Effect Triple Crossover is set within an AU! Future Stargate-verse.

Tags: Mass Effect 2 - 3 / SG-1 , StarGate Atlantis ; AU ; Futuristic Settings / SINS Vasari

AN: If someone bitches to me why they end up in Pegasus instead of Milky way I'm going to track you down, and bitch slap you like a motha-efin Kung Fu Panda.

* * *

**Convergence  
**

(Cerberus / Systems Alliance Ship SR-2 Normandy Cargo Hold – 12:53 a.m. Earth Standard Time - June Eight of the year 2185 - Eye of the Galaxy - Milky Way Galaxy)

Jane Shepard, the first ever human Spectre to the Citadel Council and most probably the first creature ever to be resurrected straight from the dead (successfully) sighed with a pair of tired green eyes as she looked over the new information she had acquired concerning the Reapers threat in her palm.

It was just a small sample of the total information from the entire Collectors Database, which was something she had taken from the station with the help of EDI before blowing said station located at the Eye of the Galaxy to kingdom come. There was no way she was about to let the Illusive Man have that sort of tech at his disposal, she wasn't that dumb and naive.

Scrolling down the page of her datapad, she rubbed her eyes with a yawn. ''Damn it straight to hell. When will the coffee maker work again?'' she needed her coffee to work properly in the mornings dammit. Clad in her a casual clothes consisting of a brown jacket, black shirt and blue jeans, the former Alliance commander sat on one of the supply crates in the cargo hold, ignoring the bustle and noise of the commotion around her as what remained of the Normandy's new crew tried to make some basic repairs to the ship's system. Their focus has been mainly on the Normandy's propulsion system and the kinetic barriers since the rest could be easily fixed in dry dock.

Their weapons were offline right now and they had no long range communications, but at least they were alive...mostly. Jane ran her hands down her face after she closed the datapad's screen with a press of a finger. One of the crew deaths that had hit her the hardest was the death of Yeoman Kelly Chambers, since she had had the front row seat to see the nice girl get disintegrated into Reaper construction material, and she was unable to do anything to save her.

''Commander, EDI says that our FTL system is working again.'' Joker's voice came over the intercom system, startling Jane. ''We are ready to head back home sir, just say the word.''

The crew of the Normandy had been working their buts off for about two weeks to make the ship operational again, having to often go on a hull walk in zero G to reach the damaged systems and parts of the stealth frigate that needed repair. Their FTL system had been shot at first by the Oculi, but the damage done to the engines and the core itself was mediocre at worst and they could repair it. The big hole in the cargo hold however would have made the ship go boom if they tried making an FTL jump, and if not that then it would have depressurized the entire ship since kinetic barriers don't work in Mass Effect Fields.

Using the Outbound Omega Mass Relay was unthinkable in their condition. So they had to patch it first. The job didn't need to look pretty, they just needed their structural integrity back to make it back to the Alliance.

For the first time since the start of this mission, Jane Shepard smiled.

''Set a course Joker, I'm on my way.''

''Aye Aye Commander. EDI and I will get to work on it.''

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(Cerberus / Systems Alliance Ship SR-2 Normandy Bridge – 12:56 a.m. Earth Standard Time - June Eight of the year 2185 - Eye of the Galaxy - Milky Way Galaxy)

''The Omega Prime Paired Relay is in range Commander." Joker announced from his place in his cushy leather seat right as Jane walked onto the CIC from the lift.

''EDI, can you connect us with the Relay?'' Joker asked as he inputted several commands into his console, by now on on very good terms with the AI that had helped him save the crew.

"**Initiating transmission sequence.**" the blue balled Artificial Intelligence responded as the Normandy made its way closer to the relay, dodging the large amount of space debris present from the ships that have failed in getting there first.

Jane kept walking forward through the command deck, passing by the command seats and heading for the cockpit as the pilot of the ship kept talking.

"We are connected. Calculating transit mass and destination. The relay is hot. Acquiring approach vector.'' the image of the relay stations was always beautiful in Jane's mind, the forked structure that looked elegant yet dangerously brimming with power at the same time. The usual blue glow of dark matter of the relays was replaced with an eerie red, but she knew that it would still work the same. It was how they got here to begin with.

''**All stations secure for transit.**"

''Joker, EDI.'' Jane said in a greeting as she walked into the cockpit and looked around for that funny looking body the AI had when interacting with the crew. Speaking of the crew, the rest of the crew was holding their breath in unison as the pilot transmitted their approach over the intercom.

"Hey, Commander" Joker greeted her as the cripple looked over his shoulder. ''**Commander Shepard**'' EDI greeted projecting her avatar over the console.

''Just kick back and enjoy the show. We are on course for home!" He turned his attention back to the controls as the rings on the Relay began to speed up, little arcs of red lightning forking from the dark matter core.

"Board is green. Approach run has begun. Prepare for a Mass Field Space Transition entry."

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(StarGate Space Command Ship SGSC Geiravör – 2:17 a.m. Earth Standard Time - June Eight of the year 2347 - Griffin Star System - Pegasus Galaxy)

It was the night time shift currently on board the SGSC Geiravör as the old but still very dangerous, retrofitted design of the LC-304E Daedalus Class Space Vessel glided through the nightly vastness of space with all the grace of a stalking predator on a prowl for its next meal, with it's powerful sub-light ion engines pushing the grey gunmetal colored ship onward through the void of darkness with practiced ease. The in - system level engines fitted on these small yet highly advanced ships of Earth didn't produce not a squawk of a sound within the ship's insides, not like they did on the first vessels of the Daedalus Class family of ships - where the hum of the sublight engines providing thrust was the constant reminded of the fact that you were actually flying... through space on a space ship.

If the - right now - much relaxed crew of the ship had their cloaking system turned on in order to hide the ship from sight and sensors alike, and the ship's small yet dangerous compliment of weapons primed to fire in case of an attack, the ship would have been just that. A silent and deadly predator in the void of the universe, ready to fight anyone who would bring harm upon humanity of this galaxy.

But, let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

This was not a warship by any means, even if it could hold its own in fights.

This particular class of ships itself (The Daedalus Class) was designated as a Light Combat Carrier / Light Cruiser by the Tau'ri Navy ever since the turn of the century. It was done so right after the first Vasari Incursion War had been all but decided and the newest enemy repulsed from the tethers of the Milky Way Galaxy.

While the LC-304 A through D Daedalus Class Space Vessels fit right into the roll of escort carriers and light attack cruisers back from the short era of conflict on Earth know as WWII at the current level of human naval might and technological prowess in the SGSC Navy, the Geiravör was just one of 11 separate ships of this particular production line and class that were made, envisions and engineered to be more oriented towards discovery rather than combat. Instead of having more combat oriented systems that most of the SGSC ships carried and were designed with, the LC-304E had almost double the amount of sensors data collection suits and deep space research astrometrics labs than any other non combat oriented ship in the SGSC / Tau'ri Navy.

Just this one, single ship carried enough sensors equipment in it's materialization matrix (a little piece of technology that was reverse engineered from both the Wraith and Asgardian Beaming Technologies and then red designed by Brigadier General Samantha Carter, solving a lot of cargo transportation issues involving heavier pieces of equipment that were generally required to create a valid infrastructure from which the Tau'ri could construct their matter synthesizers) to fill an entire full fifth of the Milky Way Galaxy with the Asgard Sensor Grid Nodes.

Ergo, due to the design for these ships to act mainly as Deep Space Exploration Vessels sent on... well on deep space reconnaissance missions, most of Geiravör's sister ships were deployed in the Triangulum Galaxy, the 4th Galaxy SGSC would set foot in to this day (SGU is ingored). The UEG (United Earth Government) has had it's eyes set on the Triangulum Galaxy for some time now, especially after the last two disastrous first contact scenarios that have proven to be black spots on their record.

One of them sparked a full blown war with an alien race on the run from something - a war that has lasted for ten years - while the other culture threatened the Earth Delegation with a full scale war should they cross their space again.

Not that the Zambrishians, which is the name of the second species - a sort of draconian humanoid species that was just expanding in their adjacent solar systems, could win a fight against the Tau'ri in space or on land. Their technological level was even below that of the Goa'uld System Lords from the early days of SGC.

The Tau'ri were the 5th race after all.

They were a very tenacious species and they were very good at adapting to changes placed in their path and smashing through challenges set before them. Besides, they had at their disposal the united knowledge of the Asgard, the Ancients, the Tok'ra, the 'Travelers', or the Capricans as they have named their new home world Caprica, and even the Tollans, with whom they were in an alliance that has held for 2 centuries. The Tollans were the ones who had taught the Tau'ri how to build their own StarGates, but making an entire new network was something that humans have come up with. Creating a gate system from scratch was out of Tollan capabilities since they still kept themselves to their own new home world.

The current standing goal of StarGate Space Command in the Triangulum Galaxy is to try and establish any sort of peaceful contact with the space travel capable species found in it, while simultaneously building up and deploying their own network of Stargates in order to open up the way to colonizing the planets - should they come across anything of use to them.

The Milky Way Galaxy was safe and secure from both external and internal threats with the unified might of the Free Jaffa Nation, the Tollan State, Tok'Ra and the UEG / SGSC keeping peace in it. The Goa'uld were wiped out, the Lucian Alliance was nothing more then a few terrorist and pirates at best and scoundrels at worst - their organization having been long destroyed by the Tau'ri fleets and their leaders arrested and imprisoned as POW.

The Pegasus Galaxy had entered an era of peace and growing prosperity as well, without the constant threat of being culled by the Wraith hanging over the humans in that galaxy the humans 'native' to that galaxy could now develop on their own. Due to the actions of the Atlantis Expedition in the 21's century and the eventual union between two officers of both 'races' not even a decade later, the UEG was in a prosperous alliance with the now former 'Travelers'.

With the Capricans now finally having finished building themselves a suitable home world some 20 years ago they had started to colonize nearby worlds at a much faster rate as well, sometimes terraforming un-inhabitable worlds with the aid of the SGSC to suit their needs, since they could work with very little very well.

Trade was flourishing between the "Lanteans'' - the name of the Tau'ri inhabitants and personnel in that galaxy that come from the UEG in the Pegasus - and the Capricans who had started to build up a fleet of warships on their own, rolling out trade ships by the dozen etc.

The base ship design of the Sunrise Capital Ships was one that the SGSC was very familiar with, and not just because they had supplied the Capricans with the blueprints for the majestic battleships, and the Steamer Corvettes that usually served as escorts across the Pegasus Galaxy for trade and other non military ships were heavily remodified and retrofitted Generation ships, armed with more powerful Particle Cannons, the new Particle Projectors and even the experimental Particle Torpedoes.

The consensus for all Earth Government Affiliated Humans across the Galaxies was at 678 billion people and rising rapidly, with a new planet being colonized every one to two weeks. When one counted all the allies that the SGSC had, including the many human civilizations that weren't major powers in either galaxy but were on friendly relations with them.. and the other human but less advanced planets that were attempting to join up under the banner of the UEG, the effective consensus skyrocketed well above 3 trillions.

With the Ancient Depository of Knowledge stashed away at Atlantis, humanity has started to build their own cities in the style of the Lantean Cities and City Ships across both galaxies, taking to the grandiose and splendid architecture quite well.

And finally, the Wraith Conclave. With the improved cure having been used on the Wraith in the 21's century that had taken away their life sucking based powers and instead gave them normal human gastrointestinal tract, the Wraith have been essentially banished across the Ion Wall.

Constant SGSC silent ship intrusions into their space under cloak are done to make sure that the Wraith aren't amasing for an attack on the galaxy.

Even after 3 long centuries of achieved active space and hyperspace flight, as well as after serving in countless battles amongst the shiny stars against the Goa'uld, against the Lucian Alliance, against the Ori, against the Wraith and against the Vasari, the Daedalus class ships were still being used and built by the SGSC in large numbers.

Armed with the improved dual - rail guns and SASS Javelin missiles, and SM-Hull Buster cruise missiles, stronger shields and more powerful beam weapons, the old mainstay workhorse of the Tau'ri fleets was still proving to be a very cheap, easy, simple, cheap, fast, cheap and useful design of star ships to build even with all the refits and upgrades it has been through over the course of three centuries.

And the fact that it also costed less than a quarter of the price that the construction of just one BC-305B Alaska Class Battle Cruiser or a BC-315 Hercules Class Battle Cruiser took may have something do with it. And as the old saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Based around speed, shields and maneuverability, the Daedalus class of ships counted in over 3000 ships.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(Daedalus Bridge – StarGate Space Command Ship SGSC Geiravör – 2:19 a.m. Earth Standard Time - June Eight of the year 2347 - Griffin Star System - Pegasus Galaxy)

The crew of the SGSC Geiravör that actually was awake for the night shift wasn't as abuzz with their work on the decks like it was normal to see on a SGSC / Tau'ri ship. This phenomenon may be due to the simple fact that about half the crew currently present on board the LC-304E class of ship were 'simple' scientists, and because most of these egg heads didn't have anything to do besides scanning the system they were in for something unusual.

Time went by slowly for them as both the scientists and the crew did their jobs, with shiny consoles beeping, holographic interfaces overlapping together as they worked, nimble fingers dancing across keyboards in a dance of typos. Taking measures, making calculations, making guesses and cataloging stuff, the scientists' jobs were to use the powerful sensors on board the ship to take detailed scans of the Griffin Solar System, named after one of the Atlantis expedition members that had sacrificed himself for the sake of his comrades... that was it. That was their mission in this sector.

To scan a system, then have the crew hyperspace to another system and continue doing the same thing, they were slowly but surely mapping out every planet and solar system in the Galaxy

This was the only thing they have been doing it for the better half of the last three months and the ship's crew was getting itchy in their waiting for a chance to get out into space and do an actual mission.

This survey was no fun for neither them nor the naval crew present on board. To put it simply, they were being bored out of their minds out here and Vör's constant quips at them over the ships intercom system weren't helping the matter in the least. Especially when it was so out of character for his species to poke others with humor.

The light cruiser with the strength of power that escaped most warships of other species was being run on a skeletal crew at the moment, but with the help of their own resident Asgard AI Vör the ship operated as smoothly as she could. In the vast deep of outer space, this old workhorse's unyielding layers of supra-trinium alloy envelop the crew within it safely and with it's form shielded by the unyielding darkness of space, it continued to press on.

It was in that moment that the Asgard Sensor Node Network detected some very strange and unexplainable readings originating just near the Ion Wall border, a rather sinister area of space in the SGSC naval lore. The just recently calibrated sensor suits on board of the LC-304E Daedalus Class Space Vessel processed this new incoming information at the speed that could be compared to near instantaneous, blindingly unreal and incomprehensibly fast. The computers were already pouring over on the data like a pack of starved hounds on fresh killed meat.

The sensors signaled their findings to the crew of the ship with a small yellow blip on a screen and a with small bleeping noise.

These strange blips of course got the attention of the bridge officer responsible for handling the sensor readouts on the bridge.

...Well, he should be handling the sensor readouts anyway.

''Huh?'' a young looking human male in his early 20's with dark colored skin and platinum colored blonde hair was woken up from his day-napping state, looking around the bridge of the Light Carrier Cruiser with confusion visible in his coal black eyes.

He was wondering what had woke him up from his day-napping right now. Hey, don't judge: he liked to nap as a kid very much and this assignment was _very booring_. The crew of the strangely named ship had nothing to do but work on the sensors - which was being handled by the egg heads of the navy.

_BEEP!_

Looking at the screen in front of him with a little alert, since this _was_ supposed to be his part of the job, the platinum haired male squared off his shoulders, leaned forward in his chair and began to quickly type away at the console in front of him.

''Hmm... what do we have here?''

That male was wearing the standard service dress of an SGSC Naval Officer. It consisted of a grey digital pattern camouflaged shirt and a matching pair of grey trousers - without the camo issue drabs - that were secured with a black belt. Black combat boots for all terrain missions had the trousers tucked in. A holster for a pistol is attached to the belt on the right side of the officers' hip. A name tag displaying the officer's last name is mounted on the right hand side of the uniform while ribbons are worn on the left hand side - not that the the man had any ribbons yet. Rank insignia is displayed on the shirt cuffs, collar, and shoulder boards. The edges of the uniform are hung with white coloring.

Medals and covers are typically not worn with this uniform.

''..no...this can't be right?'' the man said after a few seconds of thinking to himself. ''I guess I'll have to re-calibrate the sensors again. These readings don't make any sense.''

''**I assure you Lieutenant ****Corona, that the Geiravör's on boards systems are operating at peak capacity!**'' a dull sounding voice echoed over through his radio, startling the man.

Narrowing his eyes, the bridge officer had his eyes glued on the screen but called over his shoulder for his little brother.

''Ughh Billy? You see what I see?''

His little brother Billy, 10 months junior from him was the helmsman of their merry little ship designed in 'simpler' times. When he expected a posting on a ship he never expected to serve on a Daedalus class starship. Sure there were many of them in the Tau'ri fleet but there were other ship classes out there. He was honestly hoping to get a post on a Hercules or Olympus class ship of the line, not a job on one of these over glorified escort / recon ships.

''What?'' the voice of his little brother came over the bridge. Typing several times on his console elected the next response.

''...oh that? Um... yeah? What about it John?''

''So what do you think?''

''..I think that's near the Ion Wall dude. Shouldn't we report this to the captain?'' there was excitement mixed in his little brother's voice as much as he tried to hide it. The Wraith and the Tau'ri had never been on friendly terms before, but the Wraith simply couldn't beat them anymore in space combat. The SGSC made sure that Wraith didn't manage to reverse engineer shields of their own, and before they united again there was a lot of tension, so any specs for shields were lost when the super carrier got blown to pieces.

And unlike the Ancients, the Tau'ri had a very large naval fleet, partially due to their job as the 5th Race that they had to do alone and partially due to their long standing tradition of 'preach about peace, but carry a big stick'.

The Vox were simple people and they stuck to their homeworld, ignoring what was happening out there. Heck they barely even traded with the SGSC. The Asgard were all but extinct, with the only remnants of their once powerful race being the several AIs of the human fleets that used to be real Asgard. The Ancients... well everyone knew what happened with them.

Any ship of the fleet that carried a Norse sounding name had one of these Asgard on board. The Geiravör was just one of them.

With the reading that the ship was showing the crew had a reason to cheer and wake up their captain if she had fallen asleep yet. The military would take anything over the boredom of charting systems, measuring planetary cores, sampling their magnetic fields and what now, even if they had to face a fleet of Hive ships in the process.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

(Captain's Quarters – StarGate Space Command Ship SGSC Geiravör – 2:20 a.m. Earth Standard Time - June Eight of the year 2347 - Griffin Star System - Pegasus Galaxy)

On this particular ship, its captain, one Sasha Williams, was fast asleep in her small bed. She had just gone through a long and incredibly boring shift on the bridge, so all she wanted to do now was to have a nice long sleep and forget about her assignment.

Unfortunately for her, that wasn't in the plan.

"Captain, we need you on the bridge."

The voice of one of the crew members of the ship rang through the intercom with a soft cling. Sasha heard it, but she didn't want to respond to it, even if the ship was on fire. The voice was making her be awake again and she didn't want to be awake.

Sasha wanted to be unconscious, completely and utterly unaware of her surroundings.

"Captain Williams, we really need you on the bridge." The voice spoke again.

''**Sasha, wake up procedures in the case of exhaustion for your species usually involve coffee, or other coffin rich** **beverages**'' the dull voice of the on board Asgard AI, the only good thing about this ship paused in it's words. ''**should I have someone prepare a cup. If not I could always flood the room with sonic mist to make sure you are on your feet**''

She groaned and accepted the inevitable since even the AI conspired against her; she was going to have to be awake and there was nothing she could do about it. Slowly moving her hand over the nightstand of a table, she pressed on a panel with practiced precision.

"...I'm on my way.''

''And Lieutenant, if there isn't a very good reason as to why I have to be awake in this ungodly hour, someone is going to get beamed into outer space, is that clear?" the captain threatened over the intercom with an 'I have given up' voice as her head laid buried in the pillow.

''...yes Captain! Acknowledged, Captain. Bridge out!'' The intercom went dead, leaving her alone in the room. Or so she thought...

''**I'm sorry Captain, but as the consciousness of this ship I can't allow you to beam a crew member into the vacuum**''

She growled at the AI as she rose up from the bed, but didn't respond to its words, recognizing the mirth in its voice. Getting up, the 30 year old woman stretched out the kinks in her body with splendor.

Ignoring her own coffee machine as she got dressed, knowing that drinking the mud that the fleet dared to call coffee was not the way she wanted to start a day off again, Sashe slowly came awake. She was planning on getting some Alderan coffee beans when she had the next chance, the coffee you got out of them is delicious and tasted just right for her.

She quickly put on her uniform and then put on her radio comm device in her left ear before she made her way to the bridge. It should be noted that Captain Sasha Williams wore an unusual uniform variant that was colored a lighter gray than usual. Rank insignia was worn with ribbons and a name tag on the left hand side of the uniform.

Sasha has brown hair cut neck short and storm grey eyes that have special contact lenses in them making her eyes glow slightly when she used them. She stands at 5 ft 6 in height in and carries a Particle Magnum as her side-arm, being part Caprican she favored the old energy pistol over the Piercing Shot Pistol that was designed from the age old M1911.

The standard SGSC sidearm, the PSP2199 carried a small stun projector for close range combat underneath the barrel, a built in add on that could also perform as a standard flashlight. The rounds that the pistol fired were caliber 0.45, but they flew at three times the speed of the original american pistol and could pierce an inch of high quality steel. It still had the iron sight on it, but this one could be used in dark very well due to the improved function of iron sights.

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(Daedalus Bridge – StarGate Space Command Ship SGSC Geiravör – 2:26 a.m. Earth Standard Time - June Eight of the year 2347 - Griffin Star System - Pegasus Galaxy)

She walked onto the bridge, the doors closing behind her with a small hiss. It saved her the trouble from having to hiss herself.

"Okay, what's so important that I need to be here? Pay in mind that the one who doesn't give me a good enough reason or fails in doing so is looking for the nearest space suit so that I can beam him overboard!" She asked, getting everyone's attention on the bridge and overriding the AI's safety ideas at the same time in a well delivered snark.

If the crewman was in a nice and save space suit when she teleported him off her ship, there was no initial risk from beaming him into outer space.

Vör released an Asgardian sigh over the comm. ''**...**''

"The Asgard Sensor Grid has detected something out there, Captain.'' the lieutenant manning the sensors console explained with his hands still in a salute as Sasha made her way to the Captain's seat and turned her head to look at him with an eye roll. ''Cut the salute Lieutenant, we aren't in the presence of the Admiralty.''

The Lieutenant dropped his salute with a wry smile.

''Well show it to me then Mr Corona, might as well see what is so important that it has to cut short my beauty sleep.'' the captain of the old Daedalus class vessel said as she rested her head in her hand, making several of the female crew members present on the bridge snicker at her choice of words.

Sasha wasn't a very uptight officer and she didn't like talking with all of that formality. As long as the crew knew their jobs she could handle being cordial with them.

''Yes, mam!'' the Lt said with a nervous face.

Sasha grinned at her weapons officer, who returned the grin at her. Still, she did like making the new kids piss their pants in fear.

The kid quickly hit a few buttons on the console next to him and soon enough, a hologram appeared on the front of the bridge's view glass, taking the attention of the bridge crew. The hologram showed the Pegasus galaxy and with all the known political areas belonging to certain faction or race or affiliated to them.

Grey white for the the Lanteans / SGSC / Tau'ri.

Red for Capricans territory.

Purple for the Wraith Conclave.

Blue for the Gemini (very small) and so on.

It highlighted the Ion Wall with a sickly yellow and quickly zoomed to an area of space very near to the Wraith Conclave, just a few light years into their side of the border. The captain's eyes quickly narrowed at the spot.

"How far away from the Ion wall is it?" She asked.

''About 160 minutes at Wraith Spire-class Hyperdrive Engine, unless they had managed to optimize it better in the last 7 years.'' the kid that was new to the crew responded at her quest quickly as the holographic projection of Vör appeared besides her, still in his genetically downgraded form.

''How much time would it take us to reach it at optimized Hyperdrive speed?''

"About fifteen, maybe twenty minutes away," her helm's officer supplied as he made the calculations in his head.

''So this is why I'm awake? Just checking you know?'' She asked rhetorically again, getting grouchier by the second as the Asgard besides her sent her a disapproving look. She recognized the look immediately.

''Oh fine, sheesh. You're no fun Vör.'' the Captain said with a sigh as she straightened herself up in her seat, the kid sending her a strange look.

His captain was strange, and Vör definitely liked having fun at his expense.

''So any ideas?'' She asked as she looked around.

''**I think we should study the event. The Asgard have never encountered such readings before in all our years of space exploration. I am very interested to see what it is... and I believe that the science personnel aboard this ship would like something to do other than cataloging the systems.**''

''Well, that's one answer. Mister Corona, please lay in a course for the coordinates. Optimum speed, let's not go pushing the Neutrino-Ion generator yet, we just got that thing installed.'' She ordered of the Kid's younger brother as she typed away several things on her chair - side mounted console, and the Asgard projection of the AI vanished.

''Sir yes sir!'' the younger and white haired Corona replied to her words crisply as he started hitting a rapid sequence of buttons around the helm.

''Let's make sure that the Wraith aren't up to anything funny over yonder.'' her words got her another set of chuckles, although one person didn't chuckle.

''Are there any other ships inbound to the location Ensign Nakuzushi?'' the captain asked out of interest. It was standard action by the SGSC ships to transmit their jump destinations to the rest of the fleet by way of the Asgard Sensor Network.

''Yes Mam! The SGSC Nikola Tesla and SGSC Rio de Janeiro are on their way to make sure it's not a Wraith Incursion gone undetected, but it will take them about an hour to reach the position.'' ensign Nakuzushi, her comm officer reported as she checked over the sensor logs. Wearing the standard staff dress, the young girl of Japanese descent has waist length black hair done in a pony-tail.

''...who wants to bet this will end up wasting our time?'' The captain asked as she looked at the holoprojected map once more.

''..no bet? Fine, helm, we ready?''

''We're ready to go, sir.'' the guy piloting the light cruiser responded over his shoulder, typing in various commands into his console, making pre-flight checks before their jump. Because the Neutrino-Ion generator powering the SGSC Geiravör was new, he had to make measures to it in various conditions.

Sasha leaned forward in her captain's chair. ''Very well. Weapons to maximum!''

''Sir?'' the young male asked as he looked over his shoulder owlishly. Weapons could be used by both the pilot and the gunner, usually the pilot operated the Asgardian Plasma Beams while the gunner operated the rest, in this case ship - to ship missiles, rail guns and SASS missiles ports.

''It's a joke, Mr Corona. Make it go.'' she waved off his look with a hand.

''Right... Coordinates engaged, entering Hyperspace in two.'' Billy Corona said as he smiled, happy for some action after spending so long doing nothing. Most of the crew on board the ship were rookies, he was one of them.

With a wrum of noise that echoed through the empty void due to the ion emissions produced by the Asgardian way of entering Hyperspace, the SGSC Geiravör vanished in a vortex of green light, and entered sub-space

* * *

**INDEX Mass Effect**

**Cerberus** - pro human terrorist organization in Mass Effect Universe

**Systems Alliance** - is the representative body of Earth and all human colonies in Citadel space. Backed by Earth's most powerful nations, the Alliance has become humanity's military, exploratory, and economic spearhead.

**The Collectors** - an enigmatic race that live beyond the Omega 4 Relay, a mass relay within the same system as Omega, in the Terminus Systems.

**EDI** - The Enhanced Defense Intelligence is an Unshackled AI created by Cerberus and installed aboard the Normandy SR-2.

**Mass Relay** - are mass transit devices scattered throughout the galaxy, usually located within star systems. They form an enormous network allowing interstellar travel.

**INDEX Stargate**

**BC-304, **also known as the Daedalus-class Battlecruiser Warship, is a class of deep space battle carriers built by the Tau'ri, and the most advanced series of vessels in the Tau'ri fleet capable of rivaling even the most powerful alien spaceships at the start of the 21st century.

**LC-304E**, also known as the Daedalus-class Light Cruiser Deep Space Exploration Vessel, is a class of deep space light carriers built by the SGSC. Armed with less weapons than its battle counter parts, the LC-304E carries enough sensory equipment to make an Asgard exploration starship green with envy. Replacing the portside hangar bay with deep space telemetry, subspace beacons and various sensory equipment, these ships are the main staple of any research mission.

**Star Gate Space Command (SGSC)**, is the military, exploratory, and scientific agency of the Unified Earth Government / Tau'ri / Lanteans. Formed by uniting the UN and the old SGC in the middle of the 21's century after the Ori attempted their final attack on Earth and exposed the SGC, the SGSC's goal is to keep and further their mantle of responsibility as the 5th race while increasing the influence of the UEG. Keeping peace in three galaxies, the SGSC is always ready for war.

**Zambrishians **- a culture of very hostile and aggressive humanoids at the edge of the Andromeda galaxy, their culture and technology is highly ''goth looking'' by the words of Read Admiral Mambusa. Being avians themselves it has taken them over 300 000 years to reach primitive space flight, requiring no need to develop aircraft. With a hyperdrive engine that travels barely 40 Light Years per day, and with a fleet of over 20 000 10 Kilometer long warships equipped with Slug Projectors and Flak Guns, they are a mystery to the SGSC.

**Vasari** - not much is known about the Vasari, only that they were once a part of an ancient empire and that the empire has been destroyed, sending them on the run across the stars. When they arrived at the Pegasus Galaxy, they quickly enslaved several human worlds and entered Wraith Space. It is unknown what had happened over the side of the Ion Wall, but soon after that they have been engaged by the SGSC fleets and driven out of the Pegasus. But they did not retreat without a cost, having forced the planets they have lost to implode on themselves, dealing catastrophic casualties. Their technology rivals the technology of the Tau'ri in certain cases, and they do not use Hyperdrive for deep space flight. - presumed extinct

**Asgard Sensor Node Network** - galaxy wide sensor grid used by the Asgards and then later on the Tau'ri, it uses many thousands of space nodes that can transmit their findings through subspace to keep an eye on space. The current version acts as an all around sensor grid as well as communication towers for the fleet.

**Goa'uld** - were a race of sentient parasitic beings that took over hosts. Several species can serve as hosts, including humans and Unas. They originated on the planet designated P3X-888. They are also extremely egomaniacal due to their genetic memory and the adverse mental effects of the Sarcophagus technology. Goa'uld means "god" in the Goa'uld language. Races which will not serve them are completely destroyed without compromise or mercy whatsoever. - presumed extinct

**Asgard** - The Asgard were a benevolent, extremely advanced race from the Ida galaxy that visited Earth on many occasions, giving rise to Norse mythology. Part of the Alliance of Four Great Races, they were among the most advanced races in the universe. They assumed the role of the Ancients as protectors of the Milky Way when the latter passed from existence and in turn passed that role down to the Tau'ri, to whom they gifted all of their knowledge and latest technology. - biologically extinct, several personalities were left behind as AIs in order to assist the Tau'ri in their endeavor as the protectors of the universe.

**The Ancients** - also known as the Alterans, were an extraterrestrial species from the planet of Celestis of Ori galaxy that evolved millions of years ago, the father species of all mankind in several galaxies, the first evolution of mankind. The Ancients went to the Milky Way and later on the Pegasus where they seeded human life in them. - ascended

**Tok'ra** - are a group of symbiotes who objected the ways of the Goa'uld and more specifically, the System Lords, deriving their name from the Goa'uld words "tok", meaning "against" and the name of the Supreme System Lord Ra. Unlike the extinct Goa'uld, the symbiotes only take volunteer hosts, often those who are sick or injured, and do not suppress their minds, allowing both entities full consciousness and control over the same body. After the extinction of the Gou'uld, they have started rebuilding their civilization as a free democracy state.

**Travelers / the Capricans **- The Travelers originally were a spacefaring race of humans who decided to escape the Wraith by launching themselves into space, thereby making it impossible for them to be pinned down in one place. Over the ten-thousand years following the defeat of the Ancients, they remained aboard their ships, landing as needed for supplies but otherwise keeping on the move. After the Tau'ri had managed to drive away the Wraith over the Ion Wall the Travelers had settled onto a new world, called Caprica, and have rebuilt their civilization.

**Tollan** - are a peaceful race of humans that are governed by the Curia, a democratic panel of Tollan officials. While they will destroy enemy vessels that approach their space, they do not hold interest in the outer space, preferring to stay on their new homeworld. Trade alliance and a non-aggression pact are the only alliances they will enter, but the SGSC has managed to win them over. Currently, they are the allies of the Tau'ri, and are helping the Tok'ra rebuild.

**The Free Jaffa Nation** - is a government formed by independent Jaffa after the downfall of the Goa'uld. The second strongest space empire currently active and standing right after the SGSC and before the Wraith Conclave, it spans thousands of worlds. They are in a total Alliance with the Tau'ri, and are it's single strongest ally.

**Wraith Conclave** - a once again unified Wraith race, it has been banished across the Ion Wall. The SGSC keeps constant tabs on them to make sure that they do not start amassing massive fleets, but does not keep in contact with them. Their gates have been disconnected from the rest of the galaxy across the Ion Wall after they attempted to wage another war against the SGSC two centuries ago.

**Stargate** - also called the Astria Porta in Ancient are a series of devices, originally built by the Ancients, which create artificial subspace wormholes, allowing for near-instantaneous transportation between two distant points in space. The Stargates are often considered to be the Ancients' greatest creation, and thus the Ancients are often refereed to as the Gate Builders. Species so far that have been able to create a stargate are the Ancients, the Asurans, the Tollan, the Nox, the Ori and the Tau'ri / Lanteans.


	2. Damage report!

**Damage report!**

(Cerberus / Systems Alliance Ship SR-2 Normandy Bridge – 12:55 a.m. Earth Standard Time - June Eight of the year 2185 - Unknown Space)

After one very wild ride across the reaches of cold, sub-zero space, the ship under the command of _the_ resurrected commander was once again filled with mess and sights that made the ship look like it had gone up against a pair of Turian cruiser and got beaten in the process of running away from them, beaten and damaged quite badly at that. Metal supply crates filled with both things and stuff that the mission commander sometimes had no wish to know what it was were turned over in the cargo hold like a pair of drunken Krogan had rampaged through the area and opened them forcefully, spilling out their contents on the cold silver metal floor like a gutted wale stranded ashore, killed for meat and food, or blown to pieces to get the armor and weapon parts inside it (Just Cause 2 pun XD).

Bulkheads and support struts that normally gave the top of the line military stealth ship some semblance of structural integrity in the otherwise strangely designed ship of the human navy had all but collapsed in the halls of the Normandy, while some of the galaxy's most expensive wiring technology was sticking out of the ship's interior walls like a bad fungus gone rapidly and rabidly pollinating.

It was a ride that has caused even more internal damage to the highly advanced, sophisticated and expensive stealth frigate built from the ground up by human hands with some alien input. But with the ride across the reaches of space ending as soon as it began, and with new stars greeting the sight of the ship with their glimmering lights in the dept of the void, things had pretty much quieted down along the length of the military ship as the former Cerberus affiliated crew of the SR-2 Normandy got their bearings again.

...for the most part.

''Joker what the heck was that? What did you do to my ship just now?'' the ex-System Alliance Navy Commander Jane Shepard asked with a strangled tone of voice as she steadied herself back on to her feet right up from the hard unforgiving floor of the ship's bridge, while nursing her firm yet plump ass in the process, glaring at the back of the pilot of her ship all the while - she was not losing this Normandy too!

The red haired, green eyed woman had ended up falling down on her but when the stealth ship started to shake violently in the middle of Mass Effect Field Transit, like it was suddenly being torn apart at molecular level by some ridiculous level of gravity, which truthfully shouldn't be possible due to the effect of the Normandy's Tantalus Drive Core's Mass Effect field.

The pilot of the expensive and streamlined ship, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau was in the meantime hastily typing away on the orange colored consoles surrounding him like nobody's business while at the same time stubbornly trying to ignore the violent sparks of yellow electricity that would occasionally burst from the consoles as he tried to make heads or tails of the situation they were in. ''I don't know what happened commander. Our approach vector to the relay was fine and we successfully entered transit.''

''Then where the hell are we Joker? I'm not seeing the Omega 4 relay anywhere around here?'' Jane asked pointedly of her ship's pilot when she looked out through the cockpit's stellar windshield into the surrounding emptiness of space, the red head expecting to see the primary sized quarantined mass relay any moment now.

But it never appeared in her vision.

Joker hissed an irritated response in response to both the commander's words and to the damn system spikes currently plaguing the ship as he leaned away in his seat from some sudden fizzles erupting from the helm console he was just working on, using the Cerberus issue cap on his head as some sort of a shield for his eyes.

It wasn't like the clothes on him would stay the same for long when they reached Alliance space.

''Just give me a moment here commander. Can't you see that the bridge is a fricking mess? I can't get a read on our systems while I am trying not to get electrocuted.'' the stealth frigate pilot responded rhetorically to his CO's nagging. Hearing the current issue through her console, the ship's unshackled Artificial Intelligence EDI managed to remove or redirect most of the system spikes that were the cause of the electric burst currently plaguing the crippled pilot in the cabin away.

''Thank you EDI.''

''Yes, yes, yes, thank the ship latter, I need a sitrep now!''

With a roll of his eyes at Jane's impatience, Jeff asked for the obvious next course of action. ''EDI, what's our status?!''

He didn't need to wait for even a moment for her response. ''**Damage report. The Normandy's communications suit is un-operational.**'' that was to be expected, somehow the comm unit is always the first thing to go on a Normandy named vessel, even if it already was un-operational to begin with.

''What else?''

**''Weapon systems are offline. FTL engine is** **offline. Hull breach located between ****the Thanix cannons 1 and 2. Thanix cannon one is destroyed, Thanix cannon 2 is un-operational. ****Missiles are un-operational. ****Mass Effect Core is shutting down. Kinetic barriers are down to 17 percent.**''

Jeff cursed some choice words as he quickly did his best to re-route what power he could to the kinetic barriers with a series of taps on his consoles, those barriers were very important in space, they shielded the ship from a lot of things. FTL was going to be the second priority once the crew managed to make repairs.

''**Scanners are at 30 percent and falling. Engines 1 and 3 at 70 percent and** **falling. Engines 2 and 4 are disabled.**'' Well that was better than before, at least they still have some engines.

''What about the crew?''

''**Casualties are minor, mild concussion on engineering deck and a sprained ankle in the woman's bathroom. The hangar bay is venting atmosphere. Artificial gravity on the crew deck is offline**''

''EDI, check our telemetry! I need to know where we are before I figure out what happened.''

''**Understood Jeff, comparing known start charts with our current coordinates now.**'' The last tones of EDI's synthetic voice washed over the cabin of the ship as Joker pressed some more buttons on a console to his left with a frenzy of a Salarian, activating emergency kinetic barriers across the hull of the ship like he did the last time the Normandy was under an attack to try and stop the atmosphere from venting. He was trying to keep the ship from leaking more O2, something they all needed badly.

The entire time that EDI had been giving the commander and the pilot of the Normandy a damage report, Jane's face was going paler and paler while Jeff cursed silently, mumbling out some impressive words that would have made Wrex proud.

The moment that the SR-2 Normandy entered their FTL the ship suddenly felt like it was being torn apart by gravity, frozen over by the cosmic winds of the space and then cooked under the heat of a burning sun, all the while rocking like there was a scale 9 Richter earthquake going on in the ship. To say it simply, it was weird.

Coming to a few snap decisions in the next second, Jane brought her right arm up in front of her and activated her Omni-tool. The moment that the familiar orange glow of the holographic interface surrounded her arm the commander spoke out into the comm link she had with the rest of the crew of the Normandy.

''Tali, Doctor Mordin please respond, we need some help on the bridge. Can you make it over here?''

''...''

''...''

''Tali? Doctor Mordin?''

''...''

''...''

''Doctor Chakwas?''

''...''

''Zaed? Garrus? Anyone?''

''There's no point commander, the intercom is dead. You would have more luck talking to them using two cups and a leather line.'' Joker's choicefull words put a stop to Jane's attempts to contact her team and get the two best minds on it up there as he typed away on the console like a maniac, his hands pretty much flying over the consoles in the cockpit at the speed that would have made her seem very incompetent with computers of any kind if she would have tried to replicate the feat by herself. With a small glare directed at her own Omni-tool for it's uselessness - a glare that has been able to cow Krogan and Turian alike, Jane turned her head away to the side in order to look at EDI's holographic avatar.

''EDI, can you patch me in to Legion?''

''**Just a moment commander..**''

...after a moment has passed.

''**Legion appears to be shut down, I can't get in contact with it.**''

Well that was just peachy. It would seem that she will need to go and fetch Tali on her own, since she knew that EDI would have already tried to contact the little Quarian on her own after Jane's own attempt had failed from the start. Besides, she had to go and check on the engineering anyways to see how are they doing down there, who knows what could happened to the Tantalus Core back there to shut it down. With that in mind, the red headed Spectre began to walk away from the cockpit of the ship in a hurry, only for Jeff's words to make her halt in her step prematurely.

''Ugh...commander?'' Somehow and someway, Jane knew, she just knew from the tone of Joker's voice that his next words weren't going to make her day any better. In fact, she was fairly certain that it was going to be even more bad news. When she heard the pilot typing even faster and actually felt the ship moving, something that could be felt due to their near offline Mass Effect core

''We may have another problem on our hands...''

If only they knew...

* * *

**LC-304D Daedalus INDEX ENTRY**

**Length** = 225 meters

**Width** = 95 meters

**Height/depth** = 75 meters

**Manufacturer** = Tau'ri / SGSC Naval Office

**Designer** = Tau'ri

**Ship Class / Uses / Role** = Combat Light Cruiser / Deep Space Carrier Hybrid, Warship

**Maximum speed** = 115,000 km/sec (speed of light is at 300,000 km/sec)

**Year introduced** = 2285

**Affiliation** = SGSC

**Engine units** = Maneuvering Atmosphere - Thrusters (MATs), Sublight Ion Engines, Asgard Hyperdrive (Intergalactic) (_related topic: Optimum speed is the exact speed at which a particular ship can fly through sub-space at which all systems with the exception of the hyperdrive can run at 100 % power, like shields, weapons, sensors etc - they can but do not need to be at 100% power. To circumvent the fact that Asgard Shields do not operate in Sub-Space, speed has been sacrificed for safety. Optimum can be compared to Ancient Interstellar Hyperdrive, but it is not the same_)

**Power plant** = Primary Generator: Neutrino-Ion Generator Mk.I, Secondary Generator: Asgard Power Core,

**Shielding **= Asgard Shields (Shield System Strength 100 SI)

**Hull** = Naquadah/Supra-Trinium alloy

**Sensor systems** = Asgard Sensor Array

**Targeting systems **= Tau'ri Targeting Systems

**Navigation system** = Tau'ri Computer Navigational Systems

**Armament:**

_Point Defense Weapons / Anti Fighter: _

26 ''Granchushka'' Railguns (50 mm - High Velocity Armour Piercing Shield Disrupting High Explosive / HVAPSDHE shells); 14 fore, 4 portside, 4 starboard, 4 aft (22 000 rounds, 700 rounds per minute x 26 (per railgun))

8 ''Compasion'' Self - Active Space to Space (SASS) Missile Pods; 4 fore, 2 portside, 2 starboard, 2 aft (5000 units, 20 units per minute x 8 (per pod))

_Ship - to - Ship Weapons:_

8 Dual ''Mustang'' Railguns (77 mm - High Velocity Armour Piercing Shield Disrupting High Explosive / HVAPSDHE shells); 6 fore, 1 portside, 1 starboard (14 000 rounds, 270 rounds per minute x 2 (per rail) x 8 (per railgun))

4 ''Asgard Plasma Beam'' Weapons; 4 fore

16 ''Iroquos Mk IV'' Missile Launchers (3 200 units, 10 units per minute x 16 (per launcher))

**Complement **= 16 F-342B Fighter-Interceptors; 2 Hangar Bays

**Crew **= 200

**Minimum crew **= 20

**Other systems ** = Asgard transporters, Long-range transmitter, Transportation rings, Ancient Cloak, Asgard Sensor Network Uplink, Mk. I Asgard Tight Beam Matter Synthesizer, Mk. I Materialization Matrix


End file.
